Stop the Run!
 

Defense wins championships.... Ok, our pass defense was great last year, when healthy. Let us not get blinded by the fog of our Super Bowl Win, we need to remember the cringe every time our opponents handed off the ball.

I looked at what we picked up in the draft.
We picked up:
Corner
OT
TE
DT
Center
QB

Is Al Woods at DT all we need? I am not sure. Fools base NFL player ability off of college performance. I know your eyebrow just went up at that statement.
Allow men to justify my statement with some First round draft picks:
JaMarcus Russell....

Need I say more? Probably not but will any way.
Ryan Leaf... Picked OVER Manning! LOL
Art Schlichter

How about undrafted players: Who was sleeping at the wheel?
Adam Vinateri
Wes Welker
Priest Holmes
Antonio Gates
Kurt Warner
Warren Moon


For the most part I have seen comments that we picked up some good value from the draft. What use is good value on something we do not need?

If your brakes go out on your car do you run out and find a good value on some rear view mirrors?

Why have we not addressed out biggest weak point, stopping the run? I sure hope the gurus have something up their sleeve to stop the run this season.

This post is somewhat a rant but was intended to find someone to make sense of all of this so i sleep better at night.

Re: Stop the Run!
 

Some decent points but lets get facts straight first Ryan Leaf was picked #2 Manning #1

1998 NFL Draft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I too think there were Deffensive Players on the board esspecially in Rd 2 and 3 that would have much better fit needs for our team and been Quality players sooner than the PROJECT players we grabed.

Re: Stop the Run!
 

if we pick up henderson we should be alright. that and the addition of brown and woods should be an improvement. dont forget that ellis was out for part of the season when we were getting tore up by running backs.

Re: Stop the Run!
 

x,

Not sure anyone can make total sense except for the Saints FO. They have the personnel plan...not us fans.

That being said, to use your illustration;

If you "believe" your brakes will be going out in the not too distant future and they come on "SUPER SALE" at Pep Boys, you might want to buy them in order to save mucho $$$$$ for the day when the brakes do go out!

I remember a comment Loomis made several years back..."a NFL team has approximate 25% personnel/player turnover each year"!

btw; don't fret too much, we have cuts coming and some good players will become available. Not to mention trades. Remember how we got Shockey in June?

Re: Stop the Run!
 

You are correct about Leaf. My bad, he did go first. Leaf was believed to be the better of the two at the time by many because of size and strength.

Another note to make about College performance and NFL draft... San Diego gave up 2 first round draft picks, a second round pick, Line Backer Patrick Sapp and Pro-Bowl Line backer Eric Metcalf to get the pick on Leaf... WTF????

Of course I also have to mention another Draft disaster before a Charger fan comes in here and picks me apart. Ditka gave away all of our 1999 picks as well as 1st and 3rd for 2000 for the Tokinator Ricky Williams.... Thanks Mike!


Being 32nd in the draft I did not expect rainbows and pots of gold but we need to at least address our issues.

Re: Stop the Run!
 

I know things can still happen. However this being an uncapped year we are sevrerly restricted to what things "Could Happen"...which is why i worry.

Re: Stop the Run!
 

Please explain what you mean by "severely restricted". TIA

Re: Stop the Run!
 

Rules for Uncapped year restrict the Free Agent options for the top 8 and Final 4.
2010: An uncapped year odyssey

Expect uncapped year to lead to conservative free agency period

Re: Stop the Run!
 

Thanks. However, it does not apply to released/cut players (now happening) plus the rule will be lifted in either late June or July (not sure of the specific date).

Anyway, IMHO this rule does not "significantly restrict" the Saints. Look at the Alex Brown signing...released by Bears not due to production but likely due to the HIGH cost of signing Peppers. Just a matter of $$$$$$.

Just trying to provide another perspective so you can sleep at night! lolololol

Re: Stop the Run!
 

Not sure where you found that the rule is lifted for the final 4 any time?

It is the Final 4 rule you need to worry about.

We had to loose a Free Agent (Fujita) to gain Alex Brown. We could not get Brown for more than we paid Fujita. Unless we loose another Free Agent, we are done.

Read Final Four rules:
NFLLabor.com Frequently Asked Questions ? Tender and ?Final Eight? Rules

I call that significantly restricted.